News Blog

Though the objectives have remained consistent over the last decade, PSOM’s Internal Medicine Boot Camp course has evolved since its inception, most recently in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To promote social distancing, Boot Camp 2021 was entirely virtual.

Fred Rahmanian was one of millions of Americans sickened by COVID-19, but when he first went into the hospital in October of 2020, it didn’t cross his mind that he might be the first patient with COVID-19 to receive a lung transplant at Penn Medicine, and the first in the state, months later.

With social distancing measures in place across the globe, is Instagram really better than our current reality? Not exactly, according to mental health experts. While social media can play a critical role in keeping friends and family connected during times of forced separation, users should be aware of how longer periods of mindless scrolling can have a detrimental impact on their mental health.

As health care technology — such as electronic health records — has grown, face-to-face time between residents and patients has dwindled. Indeed, according to a study in Academic Medicine (the journal of the Association of Medical Colleges), residents spend less than 10 percent of their time interacting directly with patients and more than 50 percent interacting with computers.

COVID-19 vaccines have quickly come to the rescue. Scientists created a vaccine to prevent the new virus using foundational research and technology developed at Penn. Today, as we race to vaccinate more people in more places against COVID-19, the biology behind these vaccines is poised to change the world again.

Since last March, we’ve had a steady flow of alarming news about COVID-19’s impact on cancer care. The steep drop in screening rates was among the biggest stories, with roughly a 95 percent decrease in both mammography and colonoscopies during those first two months of the pandemic alone.

For as long as he can remember, Kerwin Barden has put the needs of others ahead of his own. That’s how he explains his decision to enlist, at 19 years old, in the New Jersey Air National Guard as a medic 24 years ago.

“Because of the pandemic, people have been hesitant to step up and help a stranger for fear of contracting COVID-19," says Benjamin Abella, MD, MPhil, a professor of Emergency Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine.

Hospitals have a problem, and it’s not a new one. In fact, this problem has existed for as long as there have been hospitals, as long as people have gotten hurt or sick and needed extended periods or rest.

In 1954, polio vaccine clinical trials began on schoolchildren. One of those children was Stephen Gluckman, MD, now the medical director of Penn Global Medicine and a professor of Infectious Diseases at the Perelman School of Medicine.